Sunday, September 13, 2009
Baseball is Over and I Got a New Camera!
Go Iowa!
This is a test....
Yep! Seems to be working again! Hooray! (this picture is from Sat. morning - watching the Hawkeye victory over Iowa State.)
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Good things from August...
I have been meaning to say good bye to August for a couple of days now and to tell August thank you for the wonderful things that it brought into my life, but kept getting side tracked. So here it goes... Thank you August for some wonderful new products and purchases (and for some not so good purchases either):
Good Things:
1 - I was talking with a friend of mine about my skin not being clear. I told her I was using Cetaphil. She said she had been using Clinique soap. Just the basic Clinique soap. I looked at her perfect skin (Jessica!) and thought I would give it a try. Now, because I always stock up on Clinique around bonus time I had plenty of soap in a small drawer with the other lovely free products that will probably never be used, but are fun because they are free. I started using the soap and I LOVE IT. My face is not totally clear (thanks little bean), but I feel it is looking better. Definitely a good thing from August.
2 - Stretchy pants. Need I say more? Thank you to the inventor of jeans with a small elastic band. I love you.
3 - My adorable little offwhite sweater. Jen got one (on sale) in the summer from the pregnancy store and I was very jealous. It was so cute! It has a few buttons and a hood and is totally practical for the Pacific Northwest weather (it is raining right now). I went into the pregnancy store a few weeks ago and saw the exact same sweater. (this time, not on sale - but for sale none the less!). I made Jen go back to the store with me yesterday to buy it. It was technically purchased in Sept, but I saw it in August, so August gets the credit.
4 - Green Enchilada Sauce. Totally changes the flavor of a black bean and cheese burrito. YUMMY!
5 - Cranberry-Pomegranite Juice. Seriously. This exists!
6 - Clean Carpets. Last Friday, we paid $150.00 cash for our carpets to be cleaned. He got the dirt stains out of the living room, the food stains out of the dining room and the weird splattered stain that was here when we moved in from under the window. The carpets are all soft and clean and wonderful. Definitely worth the money spent!
Not so good?
1 - Palmolive ECO Gel Dishwasher Detergent. Steve and I have tried Trader Joe's dishwasher soap - it left a strange black film on the bottom of the dishwasher. We tried Planet from Fred Meyer. Same black film. Next - Palmolive makes a phosphate free soap? Ok. Why not try? So, the black film is gone from the bottom of the dishwasher, but the dishes all have a slight white film on them! I don't think that can possibly be healthy!? I am undecided on this one.
There you have it. August in a nut shell.
Good Things:
1 - I was talking with a friend of mine about my skin not being clear. I told her I was using Cetaphil. She said she had been using Clinique soap. Just the basic Clinique soap. I looked at her perfect skin (Jessica!) and thought I would give it a try. Now, because I always stock up on Clinique around bonus time I had plenty of soap in a small drawer with the other lovely free products that will probably never be used, but are fun because they are free. I started using the soap and I LOVE IT. My face is not totally clear (thanks little bean), but I feel it is looking better. Definitely a good thing from August.
2 - Stretchy pants. Need I say more? Thank you to the inventor of jeans with a small elastic band. I love you.
3 - My adorable little offwhite sweater. Jen got one (on sale) in the summer from the pregnancy store and I was very jealous. It was so cute! It has a few buttons and a hood and is totally practical for the Pacific Northwest weather (it is raining right now). I went into the pregnancy store a few weeks ago and saw the exact same sweater. (this time, not on sale - but for sale none the less!). I made Jen go back to the store with me yesterday to buy it. It was technically purchased in Sept, but I saw it in August, so August gets the credit.
4 - Green Enchilada Sauce. Totally changes the flavor of a black bean and cheese burrito. YUMMY!
5 - Cranberry-Pomegranite Juice. Seriously. This exists!
6 - Clean Carpets. Last Friday, we paid $150.00 cash for our carpets to be cleaned. He got the dirt stains out of the living room, the food stains out of the dining room and the weird splattered stain that was here when we moved in from under the window. The carpets are all soft and clean and wonderful. Definitely worth the money spent!
Not so good?
1 - Palmolive ECO Gel Dishwasher Detergent. Steve and I have tried Trader Joe's dishwasher soap - it left a strange black film on the bottom of the dishwasher. We tried Planet from Fred Meyer. Same black film. Next - Palmolive makes a phosphate free soap? Ok. Why not try? So, the black film is gone from the bottom of the dishwasher, but the dishes all have a slight white film on them! I don't think that can possibly be healthy!? I am undecided on this one.
There you have it. August in a nut shell.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
the size of a beer bottle.
Just a quick note... today I read on the internet that around week 21 the baby is the size of a beer bottle (root beer if you would rather) and next week it will be the size of a new un-eaten row of oreo cookies. Steve said, "mmmm, beer" and I thought, "mmmm Oreo cookies!" :)
I was happy that they put the size into something that actually made sense to me. Afterall - another site said the baby is the size of a turnip. Um, sure. That helps... ??? Who has actually seen a turnip in real life and even if you have, would just the thought of it give you a good visual for the size of an unidentified object floating around in your (very protruding) stomach!?
Hooray for rows of cookies which are much easier to relate to!
I was happy that they put the size into something that actually made sense to me. Afterall - another site said the baby is the size of a turnip. Um, sure. That helps... ??? Who has actually seen a turnip in real life and even if you have, would just the thought of it give you a good visual for the size of an unidentified object floating around in your (very protruding) stomach!?
Hooray for rows of cookies which are much easier to relate to!
Monday, August 24, 2009
East Coast Extravaganza!
Steve and I just got back from our East Coast trip with his parents. I had been gone for 1 1/2 weeks and Steve had been gone for 3 weeks (he had been out there for a week and 1/2 before I got there for some work stuff). We had a wonderful trip. Here is the recap...
We started off in Rhode Island. It was beautiful! I think this might have been the best part of the trip. The weather was awesome. We saw mansions, parks, Dells Lemonade, an anarchist festival, a walk in the rain, ate wonderful pizza, did a cliff walk, and hung out with some of Steve's family. Rhode Island was very quaint and very amazing. A wonderful place for such a small state!
Next, we headed down to New Jersey. This was also a lot of fun. When we first arrived we met up with another uncle and had yummy Thai food. After that, we headed to the shore area and I met a ton of Steve's extended family. Kathi was nervous that I was overwhelmed by the amount of family that was there... However, Kathi has never been to a Vuyk family Reunion or a Neeleman Christmas. :) We have them beat by quite a few! In New Jersey I was able to meet up with my friend from law school and meet her adorable little daughter. We ate at a diner, had yummy ice cream and caught up. We also went to the shore, saw the board walk at night, ate ice cream on waffles, crossed the Delaware river and had a history lesson at the Washington crossing sight in Penn, learned about treasure hunting off of Key West, and got a few mosquito bites!
After New Jersey, Steve and I headed out for New York City. We were able to spend a wonderful day together taking in the sites and hanging out. We started the day off with a bus ride in from New Jersey, stopped at a three story McDonalds, went to the today show (HOORAY!), saw "the Plaza," St. Patrick's cathedral, went to ground zero, and battery park to see the statue of liberty. We then headed (by foot) to Wall Street and off to lunch at South SeaPort. Tired feet enticed us to hop on the subway. We got on the wrong way and headed to Brooklyn before we realized and then headed the other way to Central Park. We walked around Central Park, ate Popsicles to cool ourselves from the 94 degree weather and intense humidity. We went to Time Square, the M&M store, Dean and Deluca, and then waited at the restaurant for the rest of the group to join us for dinner and a Broadway show! We saw Jersey Boys (which I loved!), saw Time Square at night, walked to the Ferry, Ferried across the Hudson, saw New York at night from the boat, and headed back to the home where we were staying. Now, that is a lot of stuff and you should be impressed that we did it all in ONE day! Steve and I were impressed with ourselves and had a wonderful time!
Everyone at home helped with my work so returning was not as stressful as I had imagined it would be. I was busy today, but nothing like I would have been without all my family helping out. Thank you Jen, Em, Ben and Dad for that. Thank you Bob and Kathi for the awesome trip and the wonderful experiences. Thank you Steve for going with me to the Today Show and being excited to see Matt Lauer.
I will post pictures soon. Most of them are self portraits of Steve and I in New York. :)
We started off in Rhode Island. It was beautiful! I think this might have been the best part of the trip. The weather was awesome. We saw mansions, parks, Dells Lemonade, an anarchist festival, a walk in the rain, ate wonderful pizza, did a cliff walk, and hung out with some of Steve's family. Rhode Island was very quaint and very amazing. A wonderful place for such a small state!
Next, we headed down to New Jersey. This was also a lot of fun. When we first arrived we met up with another uncle and had yummy Thai food. After that, we headed to the shore area and I met a ton of Steve's extended family. Kathi was nervous that I was overwhelmed by the amount of family that was there... However, Kathi has never been to a Vuyk family Reunion or a Neeleman Christmas. :) We have them beat by quite a few! In New Jersey I was able to meet up with my friend from law school and meet her adorable little daughter. We ate at a diner, had yummy ice cream and caught up. We also went to the shore, saw the board walk at night, ate ice cream on waffles, crossed the Delaware river and had a history lesson at the Washington crossing sight in Penn, learned about treasure hunting off of Key West, and got a few mosquito bites!
After New Jersey, Steve and I headed out for New York City. We were able to spend a wonderful day together taking in the sites and hanging out. We started the day off with a bus ride in from New Jersey, stopped at a three story McDonalds, went to the today show (HOORAY!), saw "the Plaza," St. Patrick's cathedral, went to ground zero, and battery park to see the statue of liberty. We then headed (by foot) to Wall Street and off to lunch at South SeaPort. Tired feet enticed us to hop on the subway. We got on the wrong way and headed to Brooklyn before we realized and then headed the other way to Central Park. We walked around Central Park, ate Popsicles to cool ourselves from the 94 degree weather and intense humidity. We went to Time Square, the M&M store, Dean and Deluca, and then waited at the restaurant for the rest of the group to join us for dinner and a Broadway show! We saw Jersey Boys (which I loved!), saw Time Square at night, walked to the Ferry, Ferried across the Hudson, saw New York at night from the boat, and headed back to the home where we were staying. Now, that is a lot of stuff and you should be impressed that we did it all in ONE day! Steve and I were impressed with ourselves and had a wonderful time!
Everyone at home helped with my work so returning was not as stressful as I had imagined it would be. I was busy today, but nothing like I would have been without all my family helping out. Thank you Jen, Em, Ben and Dad for that. Thank you Bob and Kathi for the awesome trip and the wonderful experiences. Thank you Steve for going with me to the Today Show and being excited to see Matt Lauer.
I will post pictures soon. Most of them are self portraits of Steve and I in New York. :)
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Salmon Fishing
This past weekend, my dad took all of us (I think there were 16 total) down to the Great Wolf Lodge and then down to Long Beach for salmon fishing. We had a really good time.
For those of you that don't know, the Great Wolf Lodge is an indoor waterpark/hotel. It is in the middle of nowhere so the theory is you go there, play at the waterpark, stay at the hotel, and spend lots of money -- Which is pretty much what happened.
We got to the waterpark on Sunday, hoping it would be less crowded as the weekend winded down (not true). It was very crowded and there were small (sometimes evil) children running everywhere. I, of course, could not go on the slides so I played in the wave pool with Ben, played in the kiddie pool with Alysa, Max, and Ryan, and sat at the meeting table with Jen for most of the day. That night, we took a shuttle to a nearby casino (in hopes that the buffet would be a little cheaper than $25 per person). The casino had good food and excellent ice cream! I even was allowed to take my spoon to go so I could finish my vanilla and mini M&M delight. Yummy!
On Monday, we woke up and played more at the waterpark and hung out until Alysa was done with her strange wand search. (I am telling you, this place wants you to spend your entire life savings... they have this wand "game" where kids can spend $25 to get a magic wand. This wand then is used to activate small creatures and talking pictures around the hotel. The kids are also given a little adventure book which tells them specifically which creatures to find on what floor and in what order. If the child spends 5 hours doing everything in the book, they are then called a Master and are allowed to do 3 other adventures that would likely take another 5 hours EACH. This was a genious idea for whoever thought of it. Kids were going crazy - running around looking for treasure and wanting to have the most expensive wands- mind you, the $25 dollar package was the cheapest one...) Alysa loved her magic wand and was so excited to become a Master. Of course, we didn't know how long this little adventure would take so she was quite disappointed when the rest of the family was ready to go before she could even slay the dragon.
After lunch on Monday, we headed down to Long Beach, WA. Ben and Kelsey and I played the movie game all the way down and listened to my old college mix cd. Kelsey was not impressed with my music or my movie knowledge, but we had fun.
On Tuesday, at 4:30 am, Me, Ben, Kelsey, Kristi, Dad, Felix, Robee, Greg, Eric and little Max all got up and headed out for the fishing expedition. At 6:30 am, Me, Ben, Kelsey, Kristi, Dad, Felix, Robee, Greg, and Eric were all puking over the side of the fishing boat! So, no, none of us have sea legs- Everyone, but Max apparently. He didn't get sick at all and even caught 3 salmon himself! At the end, before we had reached our maximum amount, I looked around to see everyone slumped over, sleeping, covering their eyes, holding their stomachs. Everyone but Max and occasionally Ben. Ben took it upon himself to fish all 10 poles on the boat in order to catch the 20 fish limit we wanted and get back to safety. The fish were really biting so Ben was running from one pole to the next after the captain would yell, "fish on!" He would reel in one, get it safe in the net, make sure it was not a native guy and then run to the next bouncing pole. He would pull the fish in and make an announcement... "Only 3 more to go" "Two down" "One more!" Only pausing for a brief moment to puke off the side of the boat again. After catching the limit, the captain asked if we wanted to stay out there and fish for sport... catch and release for a few hours. Ben and my dad exchanged looks and made the executive decision to get these City Slickers back to dry land!
We had a really good time on the trip. It was fun to hang out with the family, see Em and her kids, get away from work and spend time together. Thank you dad for our latest adventure.
By the way, we are planning a salmon bake soon if anyone is interested... you should see my freezer!
For those of you that don't know, the Great Wolf Lodge is an indoor waterpark/hotel. It is in the middle of nowhere so the theory is you go there, play at the waterpark, stay at the hotel, and spend lots of money -- Which is pretty much what happened.
We got to the waterpark on Sunday, hoping it would be less crowded as the weekend winded down (not true). It was very crowded and there were small (sometimes evil) children running everywhere. I, of course, could not go on the slides so I played in the wave pool with Ben, played in the kiddie pool with Alysa, Max, and Ryan, and sat at the meeting table with Jen for most of the day. That night, we took a shuttle to a nearby casino (in hopes that the buffet would be a little cheaper than $25 per person). The casino had good food and excellent ice cream! I even was allowed to take my spoon to go so I could finish my vanilla and mini M&M delight. Yummy!
On Monday, we woke up and played more at the waterpark and hung out until Alysa was done with her strange wand search. (I am telling you, this place wants you to spend your entire life savings... they have this wand "game" where kids can spend $25 to get a magic wand. This wand then is used to activate small creatures and talking pictures around the hotel. The kids are also given a little adventure book which tells them specifically which creatures to find on what floor and in what order. If the child spends 5 hours doing everything in the book, they are then called a Master and are allowed to do 3 other adventures that would likely take another 5 hours EACH. This was a genious idea for whoever thought of it. Kids were going crazy - running around looking for treasure and wanting to have the most expensive wands- mind you, the $25 dollar package was the cheapest one...) Alysa loved her magic wand and was so excited to become a Master. Of course, we didn't know how long this little adventure would take so she was quite disappointed when the rest of the family was ready to go before she could even slay the dragon.
After lunch on Monday, we headed down to Long Beach, WA. Ben and Kelsey and I played the movie game all the way down and listened to my old college mix cd. Kelsey was not impressed with my music or my movie knowledge, but we had fun.
On Tuesday, at 4:30 am, Me, Ben, Kelsey, Kristi, Dad, Felix, Robee, Greg, Eric and little Max all got up and headed out for the fishing expedition. At 6:30 am, Me, Ben, Kelsey, Kristi, Dad, Felix, Robee, Greg, and Eric were all puking over the side of the fishing boat! So, no, none of us have sea legs- Everyone, but Max apparently. He didn't get sick at all and even caught 3 salmon himself! At the end, before we had reached our maximum amount, I looked around to see everyone slumped over, sleeping, covering their eyes, holding their stomachs. Everyone but Max and occasionally Ben. Ben took it upon himself to fish all 10 poles on the boat in order to catch the 20 fish limit we wanted and get back to safety. The fish were really biting so Ben was running from one pole to the next after the captain would yell, "fish on!" He would reel in one, get it safe in the net, make sure it was not a native guy and then run to the next bouncing pole. He would pull the fish in and make an announcement... "Only 3 more to go" "Two down" "One more!" Only pausing for a brief moment to puke off the side of the boat again. After catching the limit, the captain asked if we wanted to stay out there and fish for sport... catch and release for a few hours. Ben and my dad exchanged looks and made the executive decision to get these City Slickers back to dry land!
We had a really good time on the trip. It was fun to hang out with the family, see Em and her kids, get away from work and spend time together. Thank you dad for our latest adventure.
By the way, we are planning a salmon bake soon if anyone is interested... you should see my freezer!
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